The present invention relates to a loading pattern generating system for automatically generating a loading pattern to load products on a pallet, and a loading device that employs the loading pattern generating system.
Previously, for example, in physical distribution, when a plurality of products in which goods, packed by boxes or bags, are loaded on a pallet for transportation by a truck or the like, a loading device such as a robot palletizer, has been used to load the products on the pallet.
The loading device has a robot hand for gripping and moving products. The loading device, while repeatedly going back and forth between a station supplying the products to be loaded and a pallet, controls the hand to load a plurality of products on the pallet according to a previously set loading pattern. The loading pattern controls the number of products gripped by the hand of the loading device, the arrangement of products for each step on the pallet, the number of loading steps and the like.
In such a loading device, when a loading pattern is designed, it is selected from a plurality of previously stored candidate patterns. The operator selects one of the stored loading patterns from his experience considering the size of the pallet, the size of the product, the size and the layout of the hand of the loading device and the like.
However, previously, there has been a problem that, since the selection of a loading pattern is left to the judgment of the operator, certain deficiencies in loading capacity may result. For example, the number of products loaded per hour may be less than the target value, or the maximum torque applied to the loading device may exceed its rated value. In the latter case, a safety control of the loading device stops the loading job.